Match Report: Everton 1 Blackburn 1

Steve Kean’s side were the better team at Goodison Park. David Goodwillie’s equaliser secured a draw. Yet they passed around with diligence and created enough chances to have comfortably beaten their nervous hosts.

A sense pervaded that such wastefulness would eventually be punished. And as it usually is with those at the bottom of the league that don’t score when they dominate, it proved to be true.

There was a hand-ball in the lead up to Tim Cahill’s opener by Marouane Fellaini. But Everton and their Australian marksman did not care. It was Cahill’s first goal for the Blues in thirteen months and a day. The relief on his face as led a stream of double blows on the corner flag was palpable.

Aside from Yakubu, the Nigerian who has scored 12 times in the Premier League this season after signing from Everton last summer, Blackburn were also without their want-away captain, Chris Samba.

Without him, they could not adopt regularly the chaos theory from set-pieces that has served them reasonably well this season, thus their attacking threat was dulled further.

On three occasions in the first 10 minutes, the visitors may have taken the lead. Radoslav Petrovic, Blackburn’s Serbian midfielder then elbowed Louis Saha in the throat and was fortunate to escape reprimand from referee Mark Halsey, standing closely by. Already subdued, the moment was hardly going to galvanise the striker.

Fortunately for him, Everton found impetus via fortune. Landon Donovan dinked across the zone of uncertainty between goalkeeper and defence. Paul Robinson parried back out and Fellaini, mirroring a waiter carrying plates, as good as picked the ball up with his hands. Cahill reacted first. Robinson and Scott Dann complained immediately. But neither Halsey nor his assistant at the Gwladys Street end spotted the infringement.

It seemed that Blackburn’s poverty would continue. Dunn hit the post. More opportunities were passed on. Then just as fortunate as Cahill was in scoring at the same end of the ground, he was unlucky when he tried to clear Morten Gamst Pederson’s free kick, only to see it rebound off Goodwillie and into the net.